


Laying On The Grass

by KyeAbove



Series: Only Human [4]
Category: Bendy and the Ink Machine
Genre: Angst, Animal Death, Blood, Implied/Referenced Self-Harm, Past Character Death, Suicidal Thoughts
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-15
Updated: 2018-08-15
Packaged: 2019-06-27 23:16:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 603
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15695346
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KyeAbove/pseuds/KyeAbove
Summary: There’s a dead robin the the front yard, and Henry feels the death harder than he expected too.





	Laying On The Grass

**Author's Note:**

> This is where the robin symbolism from the first story in this series comes back into play, only in a darker tone. It's best to have read the other stories in the Only Human series before reading this.

Henry found it laying on the grass, torn, when he was only meaning to check if the spits of rain were over. A robin. Common enough, but red as its breast feathers. 

Such a lovely little thing, taken. It looked like the work of a local cat, stray or not. Henry felt resigned, but cautiously sad. It wasn’t the first time Henry had seen a broken, bloody body.

Under his sweater and pants, Henry’s scars and cuts gave a phantom shiver each. Drawn out, and a reminder of every nightmare he’d had since then, and every time he thought about what he could have done differently that day. 

Not wanting to leave the poor bird to rot for something it had no control in, Henry grabbed gloves and a box, and scooped up the mess of feathers and haunting memories into it. Henry didn’t mean for it to be an eggshell blue, but it was the smallest box he had on hand. 

That is, the smallest that could still hold a robin inside. The true smallest was a box with his wedding rings in them. Henry had only kept them after his wife left him because he wondered if one day he could give Joey one of them, and they would no longer have to hide.

All the things Henry had hid away in his life, and this was one he didn’t regret. Henry really did love Joey. He’d love Joey until both their final breaths. For both of them, that could be sooner than later, even though Henry wouldn’t do that to Joey. He saw that easily now. 

If Joey was gone before his natural death, then Henry could finally leave. If Joey died before him, Henry would take his own life.

For Joey, Henry would stay, even though it was only prolonging judgment in death. 

“When  _ he _ died,” Henry relayed to the closed box. ”No one was ever the same. I heard recently enough that Sammy finally drank himself to death in his grief. He blamed himself. I blame me.” This also wasn’t the first time Henry had talked to a closed box. 

“I wish I could change everything.” Henry clutched the box tight. “I wish I didn’t want to die.” 

Henry wished a lot of things, but everything had been out of his control for a long time now. 

“Isn’t it a pity you’re gone now too, robin? I didn't know you, but it’s spring. You probably have a family. They won’t know where you’ve gone. They can’t mourn you like...like I mourn him.” 

Who said Henry mourned like he should? Henry hadn’t even visited the grave since the funeral. 

Tears fell, and that was when Henry knew he should get along with burying the box and forgetting about it. Henry scanned the yard, wiping away his tears with one wrist so he could even see at all, and eventually decided near one of the trees wouldn’t be that bad an idea.  

So he grabbed a shovel leaning against the side of the house, and walked over to the tree to dig the grave. It took more digging then Henry expected, but eventually he had the box properly covered in the ground. 

“I remember the last time I put someone in his grave. It never gets better, but I hope I did good this time.” His tears were still falling, and Henry knew it wasn’t for the robin. Not really. At this point, it was only for his friend that he lost. His friend who he got killed. 

And all Henry could do then was cry more for loss. 

**Author's Note:**

> The identity of who died will be touched upon more in later stories in this series.


End file.
